The Russian government… a brutal, schizophrenic, dissociated, draconian society of criminals and murderers. The question I personally always come back to is, how do so many millions, hundreds of millions of people live with such repression, hopelessness, isolation, suffering, lies, and murder as acceptable and normal? And this is not just directed at Russia, it is a global disease, that of collective insanity. But since my focus here is specific… Russia, you can fight- on the side of good, stand up, fight for freedom , like Ukraine, and perhaps die. Or you can remain passive, inactive, resigned to accept evil. And perhaps die. Do I need to remind you of Stalin? Gulags? Mass murder of your countrymen by your countrymen? It is a personal choice that many have to make- to die on your knees, or standing, defiant, fighting.
And here I will mention my agenda- I do have one; we all do. Mine is to remind people of history, to remind them of the difference between good and evil. Yes, things are mostly grey; black and white do not exist in this realm, other than as a fantasy. There will never be “peace”, bliss, paradise, perfection, so long as there is more than one human on the earth. But it is a matter of degrees- some systems are better than others, some include democracy, freedom, rule of law, human rights, endless possibilities for anyone strong enough to seek them. Other systems do not allow any of this. The line is clear. One only need look at Ukraine, and then Russia’s actions in Ukraine on this very day to see what it looks like on both sides of that line.
The Soviet dream… I would characterise it as a nightmare. Undated photograph from Telegram channel Ищи своих. Maybe it’s 1982, or is it 2022?
Mariupol, 2022, or Sarajevo 1992? Is Ukraine on the way to the same?
And finally for those interested, a Brookings webinar from earlier this week- The Future of American Air Power is available online to watch at your leisure. A few points of note from the talk, regarding Ukraine. First, the panelists noted that Ukraine has maintained complete command and control, free from infiltration from cyber attacks from the top down, on all levels, during the current war. Russia has not been able to penetrate any of their systems as regards the cyber threat. I wonder how much the U.S. has contributed to that stability? Another point that was made is the Ukrainian air defense capabilities and their effectiveness- the mix of old, Soviet-era equipment, offensive and defensive, along with modern weapons have allowed Ukraine to maintain security in the air. Intelligence sharing as well as the effective use of drones seem to play a large part in this model. Slava Ukraine!
Russian combat losses as of 06 May 2022.
At Five AM 